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Experience / Exhibitions / Nordic Echoes: Tradition in Contemporary Art

Nordic Echoes: Tradition in Contemporary Art

View the traveling exhibition of contemporary Nordic folk arts and cultural traditions from the American region, curated by the American-Scandinavian Foundation. This exhibition features stunning works by 24 artists from the Upper Midwest, including Tia Keobounpheng, Christine Novotny, John Frandy, Talon Cavender-Wilson, Mike Loeffler, and more.    

Highlighting innovations to and variations on traditions, this exhibit presents artists’ works as living, malleable forms grounded in traditional skills rather than as static objects rooted in the imagined past.   

Through mixed media works–including wood, textile, clay, and metal–the exhibition challenges the dominant “heritage model” of ethnic folklore by emphasizing that “all tradition is change.”

Nordic Echoes: Tradition in Contemporary Art Digital Press Kit.

 

Also on view:

In addition to Nordic Echoes: Tradition in Contemporary Art, the work of Swedish artist Emelie Röndahl will also be on view throughout the Turnblad Mansion. Handwoven: Between Chaos and Order includes more than 20 of Röndahl’s handwoven works, including two moving-image pieces and a newly commissioned self-portrait. Video documentation of her weaving process provides further insight into the evolution of her subjects, which range from internet imagery to world events to intimate depictions of family, pets, and her own body.

19. Jans Paul Carlson Ale Bowl Bird Pheasant 2022
8. Pieper Bloomquist Silver Linings N.a.
21. Maeve Gathje For Wishes That Wont Stay Put N.a.
24. Elizabeth Belz Dragon Butterfly 2024
2. Tia Keobounpheng Who Do You Think You Are No. 11 2023
31. Sonja Peterson Inferno Seeks Shelter (detail)  N.a.
28. Teresa Faris Cwab Place 8 N.a.
40. Gene And Lucy Tokheim Fjord Horse Platter  N.a.

Exhibition Supporters

Nordic Echoes: Tradition in Contemporary Art is hosted by the American Swedish Institute with support from ASI’s members and donors. This exhibition is a program of the American-Scandinavian Foundation with the support, in part, from The National Endowment for the Arts and the following ASF Funds: The Bonnier Family Fund for Contemporary Art, The F. Donald Kenney Fund for the Visual Arts, and the Centennial/Second Century Fund. 

Mid-America Arts Alliance/Exhibits USA is facilitating the Upper Midwest exhibition tour, which is supported by Margaret Cargill Philanthropies, a generous contributor to the exhibition’s development.

Minnesota artist activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.   

Logo of the American-Scandinavian Foundation featuring the organizations name in bold black letters to the right of a stylized design with horizontal red, yellow, blue, and gray stripes.
Logo with colorful vertical stripes showing nature and arts symbols, including reeds, a musical note, trees, and water. Text reads Clean Water Land & Legacy Minnesota Amendment State Arts Board in various colors.